Alternations
by Shedaisies
Summary: This is an alternate ending that I got to write as a language arts book project. It's just what I wanted to happen. Oh, and I added two new characters.


_**I do not own the outsiders.**_

"But it's your mother!"

"Well, alright. Let her in." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Johnny just let his mother in because some nurse told him to? He hated his parents. Then his mother rushed in, already yelling. She circled his bed, her arms flailing and her voice as loud as I've ever heard it.

Suddenly her foot hit the weak leg of Johnny's bed and it collapsed. His screams were audible probably all the way throughout hospital. The nurse rushed all three of us (Johnny's mom, Two Bit and I) out of the room and we weren't allowed back in.

**repeat, from the book, pages 124, minus the first three lines, through 138, plus the first 22 lines of 139, which shows them seeing Dally and the encounter with Cherry.**

I surveyed the area, finding that most of the guys there looked like they hadn't eaten in a while. I spotted one girl, one I had seen around school. She sported a swollen, broken nose and two black eyes already, which made me wonder how she would fare in the rumble. Her hair was cut really short for a girl and greased back. It looked kind of like she was trying to be one of the boys. She wore a pair of black jeans and a T-shirt that ended so that just a little bit of skin was showing. It was Chris Perry's (the leader of the Brumly boys) sister, Joan. She had quite the reputation of being in the cooler more than any one of the guys, and looking at her, I believed them. She had a scar that reached from the top of her forehead all the way down her neck into her back. She was yelling at her brother, him yelling back by now. I could barely make out what they said. "Kid, I just don't want you getting hurt," he said.

"Oh, come on! I haven't gotten in a good fight since the last rumble! I'm itchin' for some action!"

"Yes, you haven't gotten in a fight, yet you magically get a broken nose! Think before you lie to me next time, Joan!"

"This ain't a battle scar, Chris!"

"Really, where's it from?"

"Well if you had been at home and not out teaching somebody else to be a - hood, telling me to get back in the kitchen, you'd know!"

"You mean dad did this?" She pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "Damn it, Jo, why didn't you tell me?"

"You wouldn't have listened even if I did, so why waste the breath?"

He looked down. "Go. They'll be here soon." She grinned as much as she could and ran in the opposite direction, jumping just by a high-branched tree, grabbing the bottom branch and spinning onto it like it was one of those gymnastic bars.

**Repeat, from book, 140 through 143 (part of the rumble)**

I turned just enough to see Joan hop out of the tree onto an unsuspecting soc's head.

**Repeat, from book, pages 144 and 146, plus the first two lines of 147, replacing the part where Dally says, "He was getting worse when I left." With "I didn't get to see him when I left." (the rest of the rumble)**

He wasn't in his room. Immediately we assumed the worst. We hunted quickly for a nurse or anything. It took a while, but we eventually found one. Dally grabbed her arms and practically yelled, "What happened to him? Where is he?" It was a tone of voice I had never heard him use before; pleading. If I didn't know him better, I'd think he was scared. Too bad I know him too well for that.

The incredibly patient nurse grinned and giggled, "A miracle."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She pointed over in one direction and before I could turn my head, Dally was over with Johnny, _standing_ Johnny. The tough hood embraced the younger one with a wide grin. "Johnny, I thought we lost you." I wanted more than anything to run up and join the hug, but I don't think Dally would take too kindly to that. I'd probably get my head knocked in.

"We won, Johnny. We won," Dally said, tears running down his face as he held Johnny's head to his chest. This was a day I thought I'd never see. Dallas Winston was crying. The toughest hood in town, the guy who had a mile long police record and had been in the cooler too many times to count was _crying_. I always knew Dally had a soft spot for Johnny. He always had. Johnny was obviously in pain, but he was smiling. I mean, how often does your hero cry over you, especially when it's Dally?

Over the next few weeks, Johnny got a lot better. When the bed collapsed, I guess it had re-broken his back and set it so that he could heal right. He was walking just like normal, but a little slower, and he got tired faster. He was let off in the court hearing, because Cherry, Randy and I all testified that it was self-defense.

Darry got onto me because I was failing English, so the teacher told me that he would raise my grade if I wrote a good enough theme, he would pass me. I thought and thought, but I couldn't think of anything to write about. Maybe I'd write about when Soda lost Mickey Mouse.

Darry took a liking to Johnny's defense attorney, who was assigned to him by the state. Her name was Stephanie, and she was a foster parent, along with her sister who lived with her. I liked her well enough. Dally went back to school, because Johnny asked him to. Things got a lot better for us.

I sat thinking about how I needed to tell somebody, starting with my English teacher. I wondered for a while how to start that theme, how to start writing about something that was that important to me. I decided to start it like this: When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.


End file.
